Harley Davidson: Defeating the Japanese and Riding Off into the Sunset

In August of 2003, nearly 300,000 Harley Davidson motorcycles roared into Milwaukee, sunshine glinting off of their chrome panels. Straddling their seats were an odd amalgamation of aging baby boomers, both "wild ones" and wall-street types, Harley aficionados who had come to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of their beloved company. Such brand loyalty is rare, and Harley Davidson executives don't take it for granted. "Without the dedication of the riders to Harley," acknowledges company executive Matt Levatich, "[we] wouldn't be here today" (qtd. in Reynolds).

The fact that Harley is still here is a hard-won victory for, in the 1980s, a combination of poor management, shoddy quality, and intensive competition from Japanese imports severely eroded Harley's customer base. During their struggle back to the top, Harley discovered that customer loyalty could be a potent weapon as they used the ammunition of public nostalgia and tradition to defeat the Japanese and to revive their company. In fact, the company's success story begins and ends by catering to these customers's loyalty, a loyalty that spans 100 years.

The Harley-Davidson Company began in 1903 with the production of three motorcycles in a small shed in Milwaukee. Since then, nothing, except perhaps apple pie, has been more American than these bikes. For instance, Harley's bikes were well represented in both World

Wars, when the company stopped its regular production to manufacture bikes for the soldiers, "Harley patrols," who searched for enemy traps, thus ensuring safe passage for American tanks (CNN Money). These acts of American patriotism, however, could not protect the company from the public's traitorous turn to cheaper, higher quality Japanese imports. In fact, so many Japanese bikes flooded the American market that, by the mid 1960s, Harley was the last of the American motorcycle manufacturers to survive (Hill 82-83).